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Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Total Information Awareness

Senator Wyden warned about it two years ago. He said that the scope of government surveillance was beyond our ability to comprehend. I have written about it on many occasions. Today the Guardian publishes the secret order. The government has every single Verizon phone record. Calls made within this country and originating in this country. Millions of users. All of the metadata.

The court order expressly bars Verizon from disclosing to the public either the existence of the FBI's request for its customers' records, or the court order itself. Under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of US citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk – regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing. The secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (Fisa) granted the order to the FBI on April 25, giving the government unlimited authority to obtain the data for a specified three-month period ending on July 19.The order directs Verizon to "continue production on an ongoing daily basis thereafter for the duration of this order". It specifies that the records to be produced include "session identifying information", such as "originating and terminating number", the duration of each call, telephone calling card numbers, trunk identifiers, International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) number, and "comprehensive communication routing information".

It is assumed that all of the phone companies are spilling this stuff, not just big red. More to come, I am sure. By the way do you know what USA Patriot stands for? "Uniting and Strengthening America" by "Providing Appropriate Tools Required (to) Intercept (and) Obstruct Terrorism." I think that it goes without saying that I expected more from our president.

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